Pokemon:"There is already a saved game file. It is imposs..

[MVLIJTHEN]

Hi,

I'm playing Pokemon Pearl on Drastic on my smartphone. I save using Drastic savestates. I already had an in-game savegame when I decided to start over and as a result when I try to save now I get this message: "There is already a saved game file. It is impossible to save." I would've just used savestates but I've beaten the elite four and I have to be able to save in-game in order to continue playing. If I reset the game it starts all over. I know I can delete the savegame from the menu with sel+up+B but if I load my savestate I also load the in-game save. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Then there is another thing: I've been trying a find a solution for a while and on one forum it said that if I delete the .dsv file, the problem would be fixed. I tried this, but it didn't work and it seems I don't have that file anymore.

Thanks in advance!

TJ

[Exophase]

I'm not sure if this will work but it's worth trying.

First, be sure to backup your savestate and in-game save files for the game. The savestate file is in /sdcard/DraStic/savestates and the backup is in /sdcard/DraStic/backup. You want to be able to revert to the old files in case things don't work as expected.

There is an option in the emulator that is by default on, that includes save game files in savestates. You can turn this option off then make a new savestate. Then if you load the game it'll reflect what's in the backup file and not the savestate. So you can delete the save outside of the savestate and it'll still be deleted when you load it again.

If this works I recommend turning the savegame in savestates option back on. The reason savestates were changed to include savegames is because otherwise the game - including Pokemon games - can end up seeing a save game that's been made in the "future" because it's out of sync with the savestate. The game gets confused and calls it corrupt.

[beansta]

I'm not sure if this will work but it's worth trying.

First, be sure to backup your savestate and in-game save files for the game. The savestate file is in /sdcard/DraStic/savestates and the backup is in /sdcard/DraStic/backup. You want to be able to revert to the old files in case things don't work as expected.

There is an option in the emulator that is by default on, that includes save game files in savestates. You can turn this option off then make a new savestate. Then if you load the game it'll reflect what's in the backup file and not the savestate. So you can delete the save outside of the savestate and it'll still be deleted when you load it again.

If this works I recommend turning the savegame in savestates option back on. The reason savestates were changed to include savegames is because otherwise the game - including Pokemon games - can end up seeing a save game that's been made in the "future" because it's out of sync with the savestate. The game gets confused and calls it corrupt.

This isnt a drastic issue. This is a pokemon game issue. To counteract against acccidental save overwrites they made it so people cannot delete their games unless they press a specific button combination at the start screen.

Press UP+SELECT+B at the same time, this will take you to a save prompt.

[Exophase]

This isnt a drastic issue. This is a pokemon game issue. To counteract against acccidental save overwrites they made it so people cannot delete their games unless they press a specific button combination at the start screen.

Press UP+SELECT+B at the same time, this will take you to a save prompt.

Yeah, but the issue is that since the backup is stored in the savestate it can't be deleted, it just comes back when the state is loaded. Deleting it in the savestate would require resetting the game but then the savestate location would be lost. So the way around this is to make a new savestate with backup in savestate disabled, then delete the save from the start screen w/o loading either savestate to remove it from the backup file (or just delete the backup file), then load the savestate that doesn't have the backup embedded and hope it lets you save.

[beansta]

Ah.

This is y i dont use savestates :p

[MVLIJTHEN]

Thanks for the advice. No luck, however. I turned off the option in the drastic menu and created a new savestate. When I reset the game it starts from the beginning. I was able to save ingame after resetting (and deleting it with up select and b). However, when I load the new savestate it still doesn't allow me to save in-game.

[Exophase]

Could you attach the savestate?

[MVLIJTHEN]

This is the savegame before I beat the Elite four.

[Exophase]

I think the problem here is that the game thinks there's a save game in the save slot even if the save memory contains nothing. It must be tracking the state of the save slot independently of the actual contents, in a way that's captured by the save state. I don't think there's anything that can be done to change this short of something to hack the game's memory (like through a cheat code) so it no longer thinks there's a save game.

It looks like some people triggered this problem on a real DS and in other emulators. Apparently the game lets you play it if there's already a save game, but gives you a warning that you won't be able to save. Seems like a terrible design decision asking for problems, especially when the game has so much boring text at the start that players are really likely to skip over it without reading it. On a real DS you'd probably notice pretty quickly since you'd try to save, but on an emulator you can end up relying on savestates and not notice until it's too late.

[MVLIJTHEN]

Thanks for the help. I learned a valuable lesson